Film on Hiralal begins

Dadasaheb Phalke is hailed as the father of Indian cinema. He made Raja Harishchandra, the country’s first silent feature film in 1913. But another filmmaker was also simultaneously making films, which were ruined by a massive fire. Now Cholai maker Arun Roy has begun his next based on Hiralal Sen, who is considered one of India’s foremost filmmakers. He also made advertising films and possibly the country’s first political film. A fire in 1917 destroyed all of his creations.Born in 1866 in a zamindar family, Hiralal grew up in Calcutta. Legend has it that by 1913, he made around 40 films. Most depicted scenes from theatrical productions and then, he documented the Anti-Partition Demonstration and Swadeshi movement at the Town Hall in 1905, thought to be the country’s first political film. Arun Roy, who has already started shooting the film, has done an extensive research on the subject. The film titled Hiralal, stars Saswata Chatterjee, Kharaj Mukherjee and Shankar Chakraborty, among others.